Essays should address the following central question:
Is the United States Constitution manipulable, subject to reinterpretation based on modern concepts, or is it meant to be essentially immutable,defining a permanent relationship between government and citizens?
In answering this question, essayists should consider the following:
Are the principles upon which the Constitution is based valid today? Are there basic eternal principles enshrined in the Constitution that should not be violated? What would the framers of the Constitution say about our present Constitution? Is it permissible to change the Constitution? Under what conditions, if any, would such changes be acceptable? Are federal regulatory bodies such as the EPA and the EEOC, and federally mandated programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, truly Constitutional? Why or why not?
